Brief History

Written by Sherman Cahal

The Portageville Railroad Bridge is a railroad bridge over the Genesee River in Livingston County, New York. The aging structure is being replaced with a steel arch.

The Erie Railroad completed a wooden crossing of the Genesee on August 16, 1852 at a cost of $175,000. At 234-feet-high and 800-feet-long, with 13 stone piers, it was the largest wooden bridge in the world.

The Erie Railroad moved to quickly replace the wooden bridge with an iron and steel structure after it burned in 1875. A contract for a wrought iron bridge was let to the Watson Manufacturing Company of Paterson, New Jersey on May 10, just four days after the fire. Construction began on the second crossing on June 8, 1875, opening to traffic on July 31.

Increased weight of locomotives and railroad cars necessitated the replacement of the bridge’s iron structural members with steel in 1903. The bridge was again renovated with additional 200 tons of steel to the towers in 1944.

On April 1, 1976, the Erie Railroad’s Buffalo line was folded into Conrail’s Southern Tier mainline. Norfolk Southern Railway (NS) began operating the entire Southern Tier route on June 1, 1999 through a lease agreement. NS acquired the route through a merger on August 27, 2004.

In a 2008 inspection report by NS, cracks, missing ribets and extensive corrosion were noted. Structural gaps between the lateral columns and pier foundations were also found. A fatigue analysis found that all bottom chord members and diagonal members of the structure, except for two in the center panel of each deck truss, showed levels of fatigue beyond an acceptable range.

A detailed inspection of the bridge by NS in September 2009 revealed broken rivets and structural cracks that required an emergency closure of the crossing. Emergency repairs were completed and the bridge reopened to traffic within three days. A 24-hour vibration and stress monitoring system was installed shortly after, a first for NS.

In 2008, the state of New York provided $1 million towards preliminary engineering and environmental review for either the repair or replacement of the Portageville Railroad Bridge on behalf of NS.

Activities of the preliminary engineering and environmental review stage included a project scoping meeting in October 2008, the publication of a Draft Environmental Impact Statement in November 2012, a public comment period from November 2012 through February 1, 2013, and a public hearing in January 2013. In July 2013, it was determined that Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality improvement program funds could be made available to support construction of the project.

For NS, the goals of the project included:* The reduction or elimination of the need for extensive ongoing maintenance towards the circa 1875 bridge.* The ability to increase capacity on the Southern Tier mainline by utilizing standard 286,000-pound rail cars (Cooper E80) over a rehabilitated or new bridge.* The ability to match FRA Class 4 speeds over a rehabilitated or new bridge.

Alternative 4 (out of 9), for a new bridge 75-feet south of the existing crossing, was selected by NS on November 29, 2011. A steel arch design for the new bridge was approved in late-2014 with an estimated cost of $71 million.

In the fall of 2015, trees were cleared from the new bridge site and ground was broken for the new crossing shortly after. In March 2017, construction of the new crossing began.

Facts

Overview

Deck truss bridge over Genesee River on Norfolk Southern Railway north of Portageville

(Posted on Rochester reddit two days ago by the photographer himself.)

My understanding is that this replacement became necessary as a direct result of the shale oil boom in the southern tier and that the NYS/Letchworth State Park officials were not the least bit interested in preserving the old span as a pedestrian walkway at any point in the process.

If you are familiar with this area you just might want to go sniffing around the internet for pictures of it during Hurricane Agnes in 1972; particularly the Middle Falls.

I actually think there should be a fourth, the 1903-present structure. If the entire superstructure was replaced in 1903, I would consider it a separate bridge from the 1875 structure. I'm not quite sure why everyone calls the existing bridge an 1875 structure.

NS - Portage Viaduct

Posted December 11, 2017, by Dana and Kay Klein

This really should now be split into 3 bridges.

1) Erie RR wood trestle built 1851-2. Burned May 6th 1875

2) Current bridge as of two days ago! opened July 31st 1875 closed December 10th

If the iron was replaced by steel in 1903, wouldn't that indicate the bridge was replaced at this time?

NS - Portage Bridge

Posted June 4, 2015, by Karen (jwperson [at] aol [dot] com)

Contract is being let in June 2015 for the construction of a new bridge and demolition of the old bridge. The old bridge will remain in use until the new one is complete. Time to photograph this bridge if you haven't already. It will be gone by 2018 if the contract is on schedule.

I have never heard that 1875 structure being called the portageville bridge. Do a little research. On the east side of the bridge was the Portage Station. It has historically always been refered to as the Portage Bridge. Portage and Portageville are two separate areas. Portageville is a mile from the bridge. On the east side still stands an old highway marker showing the name Portage.

Portage Bridge

Posted July 10, 2011, by Anonymous

The info is incorrect. Up to a dozen trains run over the trestle every day.